1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a wall hydrant and, more specifically, to an encased wall hydrant having a unitary front plate.
2. Description of Related Art
Wall hydrants are designed for commercial applications such as office buildings, institutions, hospitals, malls, retail outlets, and schools. Such wall hydrants may be encased within a box, such as a stainless steel box that is mounted within a wall. The box includes a hinged cover with an operating key lock. A face plate surrounding the cover is welded onto the box. Previous face plates did not sufficiently extend past the edge of the box to conceal any portion of a ring that was attached to the back of the box. Therefore, to overcome this deficiency, the prior art involved welding a frame along the outside edges of the existing faceplate. The frame, in conjunction with the existing face plate, provided sufficient coverage to conceal the ring and allow the frame to cover any exposed areas of a hole in the wall into which the wall hydrant was mounted.
A prior art wall hydrant box 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The prior art wall hydrant box includes a box 12, a cover 14, a lock 16, a face plate 18, and a frame 20. The box 12 is desirably of stainless steel construction and designed to accommodate a wall hydrant therein. The cover 14 is hinged to the box 12 and includes the lock 16 for locking the cover 14 to the box 12. The face plate 18, which is typically 6¾ inch square, is welded to the front of the box 12, so that the cover 14 is surrounded by and flush with the face plate 18. The frame 20, which typically will result in an extended face plate of 10 inch square, is welded along the outer surface of the face plate 18 at the flush weld point 21 to increase coverage of the front of the wall hydrant box 10 to a greater extent than if only the face plate 18 were to be utilized. The frame 20 is essentially a 10 inch square plate with a 6¾ inch square hole cut out that receives face plate 18, which is welded thereto.
The welding of the additional frame 20 results in weld lines, which detract from the aesthetic quality of the face plate 18. Additionally, the process of welding requires additional work time to be expended.
Accordingly, what is needed and has not heretofore been developed is a wall hydrant having a unitary front plate, eliminating the need for welding two frames together.